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"OBACHAN" means a "middle-aged woman" or "aunty" in Japanese.
.*************************. Having moved back to my hometown in April 2009, I live in one of the desperately underpopulated areas in Japan now. Let me share my life in a real countryside with aging parents living in the same house. And here in Muroto -- the place where I chose to live -- you can hear the heartbeat of the Earth! ;)

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Thursday, May 12, 2005

Konatsu oranges, widely (?) grown in Southern part of Japan, are in season now. Actually, in my hometown where the climate is warmer, the konatsu season is almost over. These are the ones left at my parents’ house after dad gave/sold all the good ones.

Konatsu is a rather unique kind of orange, so to speak. What’s unique is the way you eat them. No, you don’t eat konatsu oranges like you eat Sunkist oranges or tangerines.

OK, here’s the official konatsu eating maneuver.

1. Peel konatsu with a knife the same way as you peel an apple. Try to leave the white pulp as much as possible.

2. Shave the peeled konatsu with a knife.

3. Eat each shaved piece WITH the white pulp. Yes. You HAVE TO eat the white pulp with the flesh of the konatsu orange. That’s the most important thing. Never ever eat the flesh only and throw away the white pulp.

You may not believe this, but the white pulp is not bitter at all. Instead, it tastes sweet. The flesh of konatsu is very juicy with refreshing sourness, so when eaten with the white pulp, the combination makes the overall taste way better. I mean it.

Though I love eating konatsu in the official way, the one I tried today didn’t taste very good... it was too sour. No wonder dad didn’t sell these… I guess I need to come up with some other ways to consume these sour ones….

One inevitable choice is marmalade. I’m definitely going for that. Other ideas I have now are: cookies, cocktail, jello, mousse, bavarois and … Wow! Can’t wait!!

> Jme --- Hi! Thanks for visiting my site :D I’ve never tried dragonfruit. I just heard that some people started growing them somewhere in Japan (Okinawa?). Maybe I can try one sometime soon.

> Jonny --- We have so many different kinds of oranges here. My dad frows about 8 kinds and they can be roughly divided in 2 groups: Those with orangy colored skin and those with yellow skin. And some of them taste pretty different from others.

> carlyn --- Most of our oranges are so bitter in that white part, too. This one is a real exception. BTW, I forgot to write this --- though the konatsu’s white part is sweet, its yellow rind is VERY bitter.

> MrsT --- Well there must be some ways to make use of sour oranges. We’ll see.

> lance --- Oh, no, konatsu tastes very different from yuzu. And one thing you have to be careful is that since konatsu is so fragrant and its rind is yellow just like yuzu, you might be tempted to use its rind in place of yuzu, but konatsu’s rind is way more bitter than yuzu.